Golf History Facts

A Century of Professional Players, by decade.

By JA Francis

Professional Players of the Last Century.

Some of the most famous amateur and professional players for each decade are shown below.

Exact decade matching for these golf history facts is difficult on such a small scale because many players continued to compete over three or four decades. But it gives you a general idea of where the major names fit on a timeline.

Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus.

Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus are perhaps the most well known golfers of their time, for the constant excellence they brought to their tournament games. Jack Nicklaus was the youngest to win the US Open since Bobby Jones, and the oldest to win the Masters. Arnold Palmer was first to win a million dollars a year in prize money. Both were outstanding prize winning golfers who have written instructional books on improving your game.

Babe Zaharias

Mildred Ella Didrikson, better known as “Babe” Zaharias, an all round athlete, winning gold and silver in the 1932 Olympics for track and field, was perhaps the first woman golfing celebrity. In 1935, she took up golf, and in January 1938, after being denied the right to play in amateur tournaments, she competed in the Los Angeles Open, a men's PGA (Professional Golfers' Association) tournament, something no other woman would try until Annika Sörenstam, Suzy Whaley, and Michelle Wie did almost six decades later. In 1947 she became the first American to win the British Women's Open, at Gullane.

Calvin Peete

The first African American to excel was Calvin Peete, who won more money and more PGA events between 1982 –1985 than any other golfer.

Tiger Woods

Today, there are many celebrity stars but one of these, Eldrick “Tiger” Woods, outshines them all. A child prodigy who began playing golf at two, shot a 48 over nine holes in Cypress, California at five, won the 9-10 Boy’s event at the Junior World Golf Championships at eight and became the youngest US Junior Amateur Champion in golf history at fifteen, was never an average kid. Trained by his father from that early age he has shown a natural talent and love for the game which has kept him focused on winning throughout his life.

Tiger turned pro in 1996 and currently has more wins on the PGA tour than any other active golfer. He has held the number one position in world rankings for most consecutive weeks and the greatest total number of weeks and has also led the money list seven times. Eight figure US$ incomes are earned by the top few pro golfers, with Tiger Woods being possibly the highest earning sportman in the world . It has been estimated that he earned a cool $87 million in 2005.